VHD Installation Backup-Test Environment

[dabones_2000]

Hello All,

I have been dual-booting Windows 7 Pro/Windows Server 2008 R2-boot from VHD. I am not experienced with Windows Server 2008 and I have installed and uninstalled roles. I am pretty sure my installation has lost its integrity from all of my tooling around. Therefore, I would like to delete the VHD and start over with a fresh installation on a new VHD.

My question is: If I create an exact copy of the new VHD with a fresh installation, will I be able to use it as a clean backup without having to reactivate with a product key? I am assuming that if I want to start fresh, then I can delete the VHD and attach the backup and be up and running. This will always be used on the same computer for testing/development/hyper-v. Am I missing anything here? Please forgive my ignorance, but I am not experienced with this.

I would appreciate any advice that you have for me. Thanks in advance.

 

[sminlal]

If you have a copy of the VHD that was made after you installed and activated WS2008R2, then you should be able restore and boot from it without any problem. If the copy was made quite a while ago then you may get a message about it checking it's activation status, but that's not the same thing as an original activation.

 

[dabones_2000]

Best answer selected by dabones_2000.